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Carl Frampton's former title won't stay vacant for long, as the International Boxing Federation has officially ordered Japan's Shingo Wake to face Dominican knockout artist Jonathan Guzman for the super bantamweight belt.
The fighters are ranked #1 and #2 by the sanctioning body, respectively.
Wake (20-4-2, 12 KO) defended the OPBF title five times before relinquishing it and enters the title fight on a ten-bout winning streak. His relatively meager knockout percentage belies an apparently newfound mean streak which has seen him stop seven of his last eight foes.
The only man to survive the distance was Mike Tawatchai in an eliminator bout.
Guzman (21-0, 21 KO) last fought just days ago, blowing out Daniel Rosas in eight on Spike. As Scott mentioned in the recap, this win set up the Wake fight, although the IBF just made it official today. "Salomon King" entered 2015 with a fairly empty record, including eight bout against people with zero victories to their name, but has done good work in his steps up thus far.
It looks like an excellent veteran vs. prospect showdown; here's hoping they can put it together.